The Horror Debates: 'Dawn of the Dead'

I do not like Dawn of the Dead.

George Romero's epic 1978 classic about a group of survivors holed up in an abandoned mall after the walking dead have taken over the city has taken its seemingly rightful place on a number of top ten lists, but not mine. For me, Dawn of the Dead is many things, but a great horror film is not one of them.

And it's not because the zombies are blue.

Now, before you show up on my front step with torches and pitchforks slandering my credibility as a horror fan and overall swell guy, hear me out. My point of view, though controversial in nature, is the end result of close to twenty years of horror fanaticism and is not without merit. I don't discriminate lightly, and while I feel "just because" is a perfectly acceptable reason for not liking a film, I assure you that excuse does not fly with my assessment of Dawn of the Dead.

Enter one Brian Solomon. This horror fanatic runs the immensely popular blog The Vault of Horror. Unlike me, he loves Dawn of the Dead. He cites it as the film that got him into horror (mine was Frankenhooker), and as such he answered the call to go toe-to-toe with me in an epic audio debate wherein we provide a unique mix of commentary and fan opinion while we watch the film.

Will his stalwart defense of Dawn of the Dead, this Cadillac of zombie films if you will, remain strong enough to fend off my attacks and occasionally reluctant agreements? To find out, all you need to do is cue up the movie and click play below. [Reminder: Hit play on the movie and play on the podcast at the same time!]